The low pressure weather system has cleared Cape Town restoring the resident high that we ride around the edge of to St Helena. Pick your isobar and follow it all the way. We depart on Sunday morning, that being the best day to escape the clutches of officialdom, we are told. (Some joke that turned out to be)
There is a debate about visiting the Namibian desert. We have heard alluring tales. It could give me a chance to snowboard down the dunes, which I'd have to do to, um, boost my cred with Will & Dan.
Our last days in Cape Town included a day trip out to the vineyards of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek where vineyards have been planted since the 17th century. The wines are impressive. The highlight for me was lunch at the Rust En Vrede vineyard, a memory that will not soon fade nor will the memory of the setting among the gardens and vineyards at the foot of the mountains on a warm, sunny and breezy day. The small town of Franschhoek is a very attractive destination all on its own.
A boat showed up here the other day that our fleet had met somewhere in the Pacific, an occasion for hugs, how-are-yous and general bonhomie. The owners are a remarkable couple. Now in her fifties, she has been sailing and travelling since her mid twenties, a woman possessed. He is a retired Italian who has been at sea for the last twenty years. Listening to their stories dispelled any remaining notions I had about leading a full life and being in pretty good shape for my age. Over the course of an hour I heard about losing their prior boat on a reef in Brazil (it sank in under two minutes), walking from Mexico to Canada, twice; cycling a circuit of the lower 48 states taking in Miami, Los Angeles, Oregon, Boston and Washington DC; on a prior trip here they cycled from Hout's Bay up to the Table Mountain cable car, hiked the mountain up and down and cycled back to the boat. They dismissed hiking hut to hut in the European Alps as being for hopeless softies. I asked if they had hiked in the Himalayas, the Annapurna Circuit for example - been there done that. I should have known better than to ask. They sailed 5,000 miles from New Zealand to southern Chile along the 43rd parallel, in and around the Straits of Magellan, westward around Cape Horn and up Chile's coast. When I saw her yesterday, she was just back from a run from the yacht club up Table Mountain and back and I do mean all on foot. They leave with us tomorrow going non-stop to Grenada, around 7,000 statute miles. He is going on from there to the US for treatment for prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, which sounds pretty grim to me.
We have been busy with departure chores. The starboard engine now starts reliably, though it smokes like a demon until the third cylinder deigns to join in. The diesel dude has been here everyday for a week. The main halyard sheave, three reef lines sheaves and a lower shroud tang have been replaced. We repaired a couple line clutches. Scrubbed the crud off the hull from the dinghy, dinghies don't stay in place when you push on something. We found a marine cordage outlet store that is ridiculously cheap, 180 feet of spinnaker sheets for $30 (£24). Provisioning was made easier by the supermarket which delivered our swag, and us, to the boat at no charge. Farewell dinners and drinks left me with a bit of a thick head this morning. Acquiring pounds sterling for St Helena, rumour is they don't take credit cards and ATM's are thin on the ground. The St Helena pound is pegged to Sterling. Why they bother with a separate currency escapes me. You can't exchange Namibian Dollars outside the country, neither to nor from. The currency is pegged to the Rand, and evidently some of their ATM's dispense Rand! A crap currency must be part of the prewar German charm of the place. Laundry, there is always laundry, and tokens for the machines are scarce. Evidently there is a thriving arbitrage operation with the laundrettes in the city; the club's tokens sell for twice the price out there.
It is now Saturday night and we are settled on going to Namibia. We leave as soon as the formalities are complete. At around 700 nautical miles, we should get there within a week.
Cape Town has been great and I'll be sorry to leave, though I am itching to get underway again.
Pictures to follow.
Link to today's pic's : https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yr0w5po6d4w3zhd/AADnGTgsblesRIr1Gs4kHQtga?dl=0
Some pictures are not referred to in the text
* time lapse of the yard here lifting a sixteen ton cat on a recycled railway crane.
* A local 's homage to Daisy Duke
* An in joke for The Boroughs. They declined to change the name to " ... In the seas”
* The loco for the wine country excursion parked by the yacht club. Wine Train outbound. Crazy Train inbound.
* The cat. There is a propeller under all the weeds.
* A gorgeous home design boat. All aluminium. The owner was fitting it out here.
* Sunset over Lion's Head
* Wine at the Ernie Els vineyard
* Wine & lunch at Rust En Vrede vineyard
* Vineyard planted with roses to attract the bees
* Hugenot monument in Franschhoek
* The ex-pat Scots social club
* A didgeredoo busker at the V&A waterfront. The electronics made a big difference to his sound.
Link to all photos:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/777m1sl5uebzqey/AABaKPwzXV0e_WlXZC0LDhDja?dl=0
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